Crime fiction…
I read a lot more crime fiction than I write. In my earlier bows to British-style mysteries, I published a list of novels I’d read and could recommend reading. The number of books in this list has probably at least tripled as I kept my Covid-reading pace going, going, going…. But what’s clear about that list is that it’s better described as one for recommended crime fiction and its authors from all over the world, not just British authors (mostly English-speaking authors, of course, although I’ve been known to read a few crime stories written in French or Spanish, and the various English dialects might be considered to be foreign languages as well).
Classification of books is a dangerous game that I try to avoid playing, but there are many types of crime fiction. My use of the label “British-style mysteries” originally described mysteries following Agatha Christie’s blueprint, but even she tweaked and varied her crime fiction stories. Today we can say that they include police procedurals; special agents and spy stories, both domestic and foreign; investigative journalists and PIs; financial and political conspiracies; and many others. Many of their criminals come from all walks of life as well. In other words, the genre offers a lot of possibilities for plots, characters, settings, and so forth.
I’ve written some crime fiction about investigative journalism, most notably the novel The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan, where one main character is an investigative reporter; but I combined that with his sharing adventures with a special agent, a DHS profiler. Most of the “Esther Brookstone” novels contrast the work local police officers do with that of special agents going after national or international criminals. This blurring between the local and the national or international makes the plots more interesting!
Yet the motivations for the criminals seems to cut across all these subgenres of crime fiction; it’s summarized as follows: Human weakness including jealousy and greed leading to heinous acts of evil. That much is common enough, but also more common than not is the uplifting parts of the tales that show a variety of human beings rising up to bring criminals to justice. (Of course, they don’t always succeed, especially if the villain appears in multiple series.)
I usually respond to the question “What do you write?” with “mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi.” I probably should simplify that answer even more: I write crime fiction. Consider my sci-fi trilogy “Chaos Chronicles.” Those three novels, Survivors of the Chaos, Sing a Zamba Galactica, and Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in Your Hand! are all about crimes committed on Earth, in the solar system, and in the galaxy beyond. Those battling the criminals aren’t always professional crimefighters, of course; they’re often not in more conventional crime fiction either. The villains also aren’t typical—they might even be ETs!—but they can be rather nasty at times.
I can summarize this article by stating that crime fiction, at least as I treat it, is a lot broader category than most readers think, and it often covers futuristic situations as well as past ones in historical crime fiction (see that list mentioned above—you’ll find it in the short-fiction collection Sleuthing British-Style). This breadth of crime fiction blows away the formulaic rom-coms, cozy mysteries, and fantasies that now glut the publishing world, from formulaic Big Five authors in particular.
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The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This crime novel features a DHS agent and an investigative reporter who uncover a government conspiracy. That conspiracy is run by a devious criminal mind who uses AI embedded in US agencies to further his evil plans that include the assassination of a US presidential candidate. The book is a bridge between the “Chen & Castilblanco,” “Esther Brookstone,” and “Steve Morgan” series and the “Clones & Mutants” trilogy, but it can be read and enjoyed independently. (Most of those novels have the same villain!) Available wherever quality ebooks are sold (even on Amazon).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
